Utrecht The Utrecht Ship

In the base- ment of the Centraal Museum a long wreck is exposed, known as the Utrecht Ship.

At December 5, 1930 it was found during excavation work and was immediately a great sensation. The newspapers were full of them.

The director of the museum in that time, Dr. WC Schuylenburg, immediately saw the great scientific importance of the find in the wreck and decided to save it.

That was easier said than done, since the preservation of wooden objects is extremely difficult.

Till the end of the 50's the theory was that the ship came from the Roman period.

After many studies the years 1000-1025 seemed to be more likely.

The wreck smells very strong, but after the renovation of the Central Museum, the ship is exposed behind glass.

Here more about this ship (in Dutch but to translate with Goodle)

Utrecht Payenborch

In the Middle Ages Utrecht already new big houses decorated with turrets and battlements.

These houses were called 'town castles'.

One of these houses is Payenborgh, with next to it Small Payenborgh at Oude Gracht 320.

Because of costs of energy and cleaning and so on, the owners of these houses had big meetings and parties in the big house, but mostly lived their daily life in the small building.

Along the Oude Gracht you see more of these double houses.

The name is from the family Paye, who lived here from the middle of the 14th century till the end of the 15th century.

The frame of the door is from the 18th century. In 1830 the windows were replaced and the front plastered.

In 1909 the university bought the building to start an education for dental surgery.

20 Years later the education was moved to the Jutfaseweg.

On the pictures the front of the building and an old dentist chair

Utrecht Saint Nicholas 5 December

This memorial stone you can find above the door of
Oudegracht 330.

I couldn't find the back ground information.

It shows Saint Nicholas who flies on a kind of cloud to save the sailors on the vessel.

It is not clear why, according to Dutch tradition, St. Nicholas comes from Spain.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that St. Nicholas was the patron of the seafares.

In the 17th century, Holland was known for its seafare (trade and colonies).

Maybe this tradition began by the contact with Spanish sailors.

This may also explain why Saint Nicholas is helped by Black Pete's
(the Moors dominated Spain for several hundreds of years)

Another, more popular, statement is that the Pete’s are black since they often enter chimneys and there is no time to wash their selves :).

Utrecht Nederlands Film Festival (Dutch Movie Festival)

Every year the Dutch Film Festival is held in Utrecht.

The opening and closing is mostly is the Stadschouwburg but the organization is hosted in the old building of De Winkel van Sinkel.

The building started after a long preparation in 1837 based on the design of architect Pieter Adams (1778-1846).

The most remarkable part of the design is the four big women statues in Greek robes.

Saint Martin was born in Sabaria in 316, now called Hungary.

His parents called him after the Roman God Mars.

His father was a senior officer in the service of the Roman army.

As a 10 years old boy, Martin got interested in the Christian Faith.

While Martin was still a soldier at Amiens later, he experienced the vision that became the most-repeated story about his life.

He was at the gates of the city of Amiens with his soldiers when he met a scantily dressed beggar.

He impulsively cut his own military cloak in half and shared it with the beggar.

That night he dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away.

He heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clad me.

On the picture St.Martin cuts off a part of his cloak by which he was the first "mantelzorger":).

Utrecht St. Maarten (Saint Martin)

On the picture you see St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of Utrecht.

How came St. Maarten to Utrecht?

Well, in the Roman period in Germany lived a German nation called the Franks.

They tried to invade Holland several times but didn’t succeed.

After the Romans left Holland the invasion was successful about 476 AD.

The Franks have become Christians and started building churches in their empire.

So also in Utrecht, on the place where now the Dom Square is, by king Dagobert I in 630 AD.

The church was devoted to Saint Martin, the most important Saint of the Franks.

From that moment on you see everywhere sculptures or colours, that remind of Saint Martin, in Utrecht.

This sculpture is to be seen above the door of the Kloostergang from the Dom square side, and was lighted up during the Europa Cantate choir festival 2009.

Utrecht The Hermits: Suster Bertken

The most famous hermit in Utrecht was Sister Bertken.

Sister Bertken was born in Utrecht in the year 1426 or 1427 with the name Berta Jacobsdaughter and by that is meant Jacob van Lichtenberch.

Probably she chose for the life of a hermit because she had found out that she was a bastard. When she was 30 (1457) she was locked up in the hermitage of the Buur church and stayed there till her death in 1514 when she was 87 years old.

Her day plan consisted of praying, attending the mess, writing poems, advice people, doing needlework.

She lived a vegetarian life and her clothes consisted of a simple skirt and a coarse dress and naked feet without any form of heating in her hermitage.

In these times a renovation of the Buurkerk was planned and after her death the hermitage was pulled down and her grave destroyed. At another spot a new vault was made.

However, in 1579 also the holy cross choir was broken down and next to the Buurkerk the Choorstraat (Choirstreet) was erected.

In the Choorstreet Suster Bertken’s grave should be somewhere , but it is not for sure where it is exactly.

Now a stone is laid with the text: “Sister Bertken lived here as a hermit locked up in a niche in the bricked wall 1457-1514.wall

At the foot of the stone you see a map of the church and a golden dot shows the place where the hermitage should have been.

On the pictures the hermitage console corner Choorstraat/Vismarkt ; a book cover of Sister Bertken (Royal Library /Kon. Bibl.) and the grave stone in the Choorstraat